Japan Press Weekly

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2007 February 7 - 13 [POLITICS]

JCP Metropolitan Assembly members’ group reveals that Tokyo governor used tax money of 16 million yen for 155 dinners

The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members’ group on February 9 revealed that Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro has spent tax money amounting to 16.2 million yen for wining and dining his close aides and Liberal Democratic Party politicians 155 times in seven years between April 4, 2000 and the end of 2006.

Documents that the JCP group obtained show that Ishihara had used the money mainly for dining with then Vice Governor Hamauzu Takeo (currently, metropolitan government counselor) and the governor’s special secretary Takai Hideki. The documents, however, identify each time only one person whom the governor dined with, thus the rest of the participants are unknown.

In January, the Tokyo District Court judged some of such dinners as illegitimate by ruling that they were held “simply as entertainment using famous restaurants” at taxpayer expenses.

Yoshida Nobuo, the JCP metropolitan assembly members’ group secretary general, at a news conference said, “The governor receives about 40 million yen a year, including his retirement allowance. The expenses for such wining and dining should be paid for out of his pocket, and he must pay back the money he illegally used. He must also disclose the full details of his eating out using taxpayers’ money. In the metropolitan assembly, the JCP will thoroughly look into his personal use of the metropolitan government budget.”